Ten Man Pompey Fall To Defeat

Pompey's winless run was stretched to 22 games after yet another tepid performance in a single goal defeat at Oldham.

Guy Whittingham's men barely mustered a meaningful shot on the Latics' goal in a poor match at Boundary Park and the misery was compounded with Sam Sodje's dismissal early in the second half.

The first half was a poor affair with Oldham starting the brighter. Dan Butler had to clear the ball off the line and Chris Iwelumo's header was well saved by Simon Eastwood.

However, the Pompey goalkeeper should have done better when he allowed Jose Baxter's long range shot to creep under him on the 11th minute.

The hosts weren't brilliant but still did enough to put this dismal Pompey team under pressure and "old boy" Jordan Obita should have doubled the lead when Yassin Moutaouakil's mistake let him have a free run at goal.

Liam Walker had Pompey's only real half-chances of the first 45 minutes, though he couldn't replicate his free kick from the same position as his goal at Scunthorpe, striking the ball over the bar and he scuffed the ball wide later on after Jed Wallace had set him up.

The second half was dire from our point of view. Sodje was sent off for a needless altercation with Lee "Scummer" Barnard on 50 minutes to make Pompey's task harder and Oldham went on to dominate the rest of the game.

Obita's overhead kick struck the crossbar and Eastwood did brilliantly to acrobatically save Barnard's follow up. Jonathan Grounds then tried his luck with an free kick which also hit the woodwork.

It would have been an embarrassment had Jean-Yves Mvoto (a centre back) scored after a surging run from the halfway line but he was thankfully crowded out.

Not that it really mattered as ten man Pompey never looked like winning this game and the final whistle was more of a relief than anything else to put the 468 travelling fans out of their misery.

In summary, this performance was completely unacceptable. The management continues to tinker with the team with three unforced changes from the side that didn't perform too badly against Carlisle and thus there is no continuity in the side.

No continuity means no cohesion and no cohesion means an unorganised defence and no plan of attack bar "hit it long and hope Agyemang holds it up for someone" - it is no surprise that Pompey haven't won in so long.

A flawed game plan was made even harder to execute because of Sodje's stupidity. He may not play for the club again now he serves a ban and his loan spell will have ended by the time he is available for selection again.

It's all very tedious and the likelihood of Portsmouth not winning another game all season becomes ever more realistic.